This is a very special post to accompany a special week. As of next Tuesday I will be taking up a new full time gig at a fancy new agency and throwing myself head first into a barrel of branding and niche packaging goodness. The agency of choice is BRR, in my current home town of Auckland, New Zealand. With a strong focus on brand story and solid thinking, I might be biased, but they […]
Hailing from Wellington, Mike’s gone on walkabout. I know, I know, tenuous, it’s an aborigine thing, but bear with us. Perhaps it’s better we think of it as more of a design pilgrimage – a pilgrimage from the ol’ Long White Cloud to Europe; Hamburg to be exact (as we type), via a scattering of Scandanavian hotspots, Mike has asked not what the design world can do for him, but what he can do for […]
We heart, We Love Inc… and we think you probably will too. Not only have they set up their offices in my two favourite cities in the world, London and Auckland but they are producing interesting and engaging work through great collaborations. Their team of 7 includes an illustrator, digital designer, spatial designer and research specialist, proving they can turn their hands to just about anything. A great example of a flexible and collaborative approach […]
The International Office are not the global high flyers their name may suggest, they are in fact a dynamic duo hailing from Wellington, New Zealand. Yep, that’s right just two blokes in an office with the occasional collaborating visitor if the fancy takes them – and the outcome is sublime. They’re obsessed with grids, typography and all things well made; three things that Designers Journal also have a fondness for. With this in mind let […]
When I asked Switch to sum themselves up for me they used the phrases ‘nimble’ and ‘we play well with others’, this made me like them. The following images made me a like them even more. My posts have been pretty pun free thus far so on this occasion I’m going to throw in that they are truly switched on bunch, up the minute and right ON the pulse of contemporary design culture (sorry)! On […]
Inhouse are an elusive bunch, they give little away through their online world, little that is except that they appear to house a giant rabbit in their studio. This alone confirms them as a prime candidate for Cloud 9. They do of course also produce ridiculously stylish and well considered design, so extra points for that chaps. They are in fact responsible for one of my top visual publications here in New Zealand, Pilot. In […]
Everything are based right here in Auckland town. A small multi-talented team, their focus is strong and effective communication – similar to most – yet these guys do it in style. Their approach is characterised by highly crafted simplicity making for high visual impact. In true less is more style I shall say no more and let the work speak for itself! www.everythingdesign.co.nz
Those Kiwis with a designers eye will have spotted these beauties in the supermarket; turns out the calligraphic gems were the work of Hook based down in Wanaka with help from Peter Gilderdale. The King Series wines were designed to celebrate an ancestral link to pirates operating out of Lundy Island in the 12th and 13th centuries. This is coupled with a pretty swift nod to the family’s rocky relationship with English royalty. It’s always […]